It should have been an easy vote for Montana Republican Conrad Burns.

A bill was introduced into the United States Senate proposing to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from funding or making use of experiments that expose human beings to pesticides. There have been efforts in the past within the EPA to fund studies of the effects of pesticides on pregnant women and their children, and most Americans believe that's not an ethical thing to do. Purposefully putting people in harm's way by bringing them into contact with poisons just doesn't seem very decent.

But what did Senator Conrad Burns do, when presented with this bill? Senator Burns voted against the ban on human experimentation with pesticides. Senator Burns said that exposing people to pesticides is "necessary".

Montana State Auditor John Morrison has noted that Senator Burns has accepted large campaign contributions from companies that manufacture pesticides. Quid pro quo? No one can say for sure, of course, but the appearances are pretty fishy.

We think that the people of Montana ought to know that one of their United States Senators has chosen the profits of pesticide companies over the safety of ordinary Americans. In our view, exposing people to pesticides on purpose to see whether they will get sick does not fit with traditional American values. The support of Conrad Burns for such experimentation shows that he is out of touch with the needs of his constituents.

The choice is yours, Montana. If you don't mind poisonous experimentation in your lives, then Conrad Burns is your choice in 2006. If you think you have the right to expect better from a United States Senator, then it's time to vote Burns out of office, and let him have his eccentric theories about human beings and poisons in private, where they won't do any harm.